Essential Case Studies in Public Health: Putting Public Health into Practice is a unique compilation of twenty-one cases based on real life events and problems. Written by over forty public health faculty members and practitioners, these cases vividly illustrate how professionals across various disciplines tackle public health challenges. Covering a wide range of topics and issues from HPV vaccines as school entry requirements to implementing community-based water systems in rural Honduran communities to a mumps epidemic in Iowa, this text helps students apply a wide range of knowledge and skills relevant to public health outbreak investigation, policy analysis, regulatory decision-making and more.

Suitable as a stand-alone text or as an adjunct to any introductory public health text, this collection of engaging case studies provides students with the opportunity to synthesize and apply each of the five components of the “Public Health 101” curriculum framework: the public health approach; tools of population health; disease: determinants, impacts, and interventions; healthcare and public health systems; and special areas of public health focus. Selected cases can be readily applied to courses across the curriculum.

About the Authors Introduction Prologue Contributors Part I Assessment Case 1 The Toronto SARS II Experience Case 2 A Feasibility Study of Routine Screening for HIV in an Urban Emergency Department Case 3 Male Circumcision and HIV: An Evidence-Based Public Health Approach Case 4 Research Synthesis: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Vioxx® and Cardiovascular EventPart II Policy Development Case 5 The Heart Truth®: A Social Marketing Approach to Increase Awareness about Heart Disease in Women Case 6 An Outbreak of Yellow Fever in Paraguay: Health Risk Communication in a Crisis Case 7 Challenges with Implementing a Community-Based Potable Water System Project in a Rural Honduran Community Case 8 Building on Strengths: A School-Based Mental Health Program Case 9 Building Trust in Communities: The Narragansett Indian Tribe and the State of Rhode Island Case 10 The Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance Case 11 Should HPV Vaccine Be Required for School Entry? Case 12 Plan B Emergency Contraception: Caught in a web of science, regulation and politics: What’s a woman to do? Case 13 Implementing Policy Changes to Decrease Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Pediatric Asthma Outcomes Case 14 Coal Ash: Disasters and Opportunities Case 15 The Diethylstilbestrol (DES) StoryPart III Assurance Case 16 Beyond Measurement? Evaluating environmental public health: Assessing the effectiveness of food safety programs Case 17 Cardiac Rehabilitation for the Elderly: A Public Health Perspective Case 18 The X-Pack Smoking Cessation Kit: A Social Marketing Case Study Case 19 Mumps Epidemic in Iowa: Lessons Learned from the Frontline of Testing Case 20 Big Brother is Watching: Utilizing Clinical Decision Support as a Tool to Limit Adverse Drug Events Case 21 The 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic: When You Make Mistakes, Don’t Miss the Lessons

Katherine Hunting, PhD, MPH-Professor, The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Washington, Washington D.C.